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    Smokey Bear Museum

    4.5 (24 reviews)

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    Love this old poster inside the museum. 5/4/2024
    Jenni M.

    The Smokey Bear Museum is located on Smokey Bear Boulevard in Capitan, NM. My grade school daughters and I visited on May 4, 2024, during their Smokey Bear Days celebration which also entailed his 80th birthday tribute. The museum reminisces a log cabin and it fairly small. There are gift shop items for sale. The memorabilia adorns the entire place. I personally loved an old poster that read "THINK." The letter "i" was a burnt out match. Below it was "Smokey" with a park ranger hat. The more simple the message, the better. We got in free due to the weekend festivities, but the usual admission rates we nominal.

    Marie S.

    We spent about an hour at the museum ($2 entry/person- cash only). We watched a quick 10 minute movie on Smokey, filled out a trivia sheet (and got a Smokey pin as a prize). There were exhibits on Smokey, how fires start, and the different kinds of fires. The rangers were friendly and provided all the information we needed. We wandered out to the gardens and saw goldfish in the pond, Smokey's gravesite, the Smokey balloon gravesite, and the fallen firefighter's memorial. 2023 #28

    Smokey's Grave
    Carrie M.

    This tiny museum is worth a visit if you're passing through Capitan. It's geared towards kids, but I still enjoyed getting to learn about the history of Smokey Bear and fire prevention campaigns. I loved seeing the vintage campaign signs. The park area with Smokey's grave was pretty dead (haha). They could add some more educational information or something out there. Admission is $2/person, and they only take cash or check. The gift shop takes card, so I don't understand why the museum doesn't. The gift shop was out of stock of most T-shirt sizes and posters :(

    Some of the great Smokey the Bear objects you will see here!
    Chelsea W.

    Cute, small museum in honor of a titan in advertising campaigns and one of most recognizable PSA characters in all of marketing history. Fascinating facts about the ad campaign, the first mascot abs his life at the National zoo for 26 years. $2 entrance fee, indoor and outdoor displays and a gift shop at the end.

    Baby Smokey
    Heidi F.

    I had no idea Smokey was an actual bear. I thought he was just a cartoon. Great museum with tons of info and pics. Definitely worth going to.

    Steve B.

    Take a nice little drive north of Ruidosa to find this great little museum dedicated to Smokey the Bear. It includes the original museum (supported by your donation or souvenirs that you purchase) and the newer museum supported by the state. The original museum is built from burned logs from the fire that Smokey is known from. In between it, and the newer museum, is a small park with separate area for the different life zones in New Mexico. It has a nice walkway that anyone can do in less than 30 minutes. The newer museum has many exhibits on Smokey and on forest management. It also has a movie that tells the story. It does not take long to go through all of it, and I felt was well worth it. I will say that if you have sensitive kids, some of it might make them sad. Going here is time well spent.

    Manda C.

    We have been driving through Capitan for the last few years on our summer road trips and it's a charming little town that gives you a break from society with infrequent cell signals. Last year was the first time we checked out the museum and it was such a good deal at $2 per person, that we stopped by again this year to check out the gift shop. From parking, the museum is on your left and the gift shop is on your right. The gift shop is at the end of the tour but also has it's own entrance from the street. The museum is fun and well done. I strongly suggest this as a place to bring the kids and think it's a great field trip spot. The inside has videos on fire prevention, but a significant section on Smokey the Bear history including videos and memorabilia. I think it's very educational. The outside area is a path that will eventually lead you to the burial spot of the original Smokey Bear. The path is lovely and continues to provide education on the plant life, butterflies, etc. The tour can be as long or as short as you would like it to be and is worth the price. Last year we spent a little over an hour there, but could have spent more time and seen everything. The gift shop has a lot of similar items to what you can find at ranger stations, but it also expands that selection. Unfortunately, inventory is often low and they can be out of a lot of things. Sweaters and t shirts can be limited in sizes, but most kid sizes are available. There are a lot of key chains, bookmarks, slap bracelets, dolls, etc. I would say I've never seen a larger selection of hats. I'm most impressed with the Smokey memorabilia that's not for sale though, it's like a time capsule. If you are driving through New Mexico and need to stretch your legs, this is a great break from the monotony of constant driving! The town itself also has a couple of great restaurants and a motel.

    Easy to find
    Kim H.

    Who doesn't like Smokey Bear?!?!? A must stop in the area. It is cheap too. 2 bucks fir adults fir the museum and park. Everything and anything about Smokey is there from lunch boxes to the oldest doll. Brought me back to elementary school where we would have a special unit on fire safety. The film is great but no captioning which I plan to address in an email/ phone call to them. Excellent photo ops with statutes and pictures. The special exhibit on firefighters is an excellent tribute to them. The museum store has additional collectibles and great T-shirt's to buy. The grounds is a nice pleasant easy walk with varied trees and plants clearly marked. The new area with the firefighters memorial is both humbling and beautiful. Nice little waterfall is nice. The burial area of Smokey is both fitting and cute with the wooden carved statue. Don't pass this up please stop and have some nostalgia and support this museum. Fun is showed every 1/4 hour. Watch it to get the history and your Bearings on the area. As Smokey says please help to prevent forest fires-and respect the forrest and regulations.

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    3 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    7 months ago

    What an adorable little museum with some fun facts about fire safety and Smokey Bear! Worth a stop to come learn some New Mexico history!

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    9 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Love this museum! Love smokey the bear! This is definitely worth the drive to go see. Anyone who loves smokey the bear should definitely go!

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    9 years ago

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    Review Highlights - Smokey Bear Museum

    They learned all about the importance of fire safety and the repercussions of not using fire responsibly.

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    International UFO Museum & Research Center - Outside of museum, plenty of parking in street and free lot on the left

    International UFO Museum & Research Center

    (482 reviews)

    We visited the International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, NM and had a wonderful time…read morereading up on the UFO sightings and pictures captured. The museum is located in Downtown Roswell and is open daily from 9am-5pm. Admission for adults is $7 and kids 5-7 is $4. Seniors 65+, military and first responders pay $5. There's a gift shop inside to buy alien souvenirs. Be sure to also stop at Roswell UFO Spacewalk museum afterwards for a cool glow in the dark UFO and aliens experience it's only a 2 minute walk from this museum. Happy Yelping :)

    If you are in Roswell, this is a must do. Admission is $7 per person for adults which feels fine…read morefor what you get. You should know going in there's a lot of reading involved and this is not some flashy, high-tech, push a button type of museum. There are lots of displays and documents, timelines and witness accounts, newspaper clippings etc. so if you really want to take it all in, you'll need to give yourself some time. There's a really large research library inside which I found interesting. If you're really into UFO history, investigations, government reports and all of that you could easily spend hours in that section alone. The exhibits themselves are fine, although some of it feels a little dated and again, it's a lot of reading. It's also dog friendly and I'm pretty certain that the UFO exhibit with the life-size aliens kept my dog distracted long enough for me to read most of what I wanted to. There's definitely plenty to keep humans engaged as well if you enjoy learning about the 1947 Roswell incident and everything that followed. The gift shop was really cute; maybe my favorite part. Lots of quirky alien merch, books, shirts, and fun souvenirs. We got a giggly alien head headband in child size that we ended up putting on our dog. It was adorable. I also got a really nice knitted sweatshirt that I probably overpaid for but I love it. If you are looking for something very Roswell you will find it here. This is definitely a place worth visiting, especially if you've already come to the area, just remember to give yourself time and not rush it or expect some sort of interactive/theme park type experience.

    Smokey Bear Museum - museums - Updated May 2026

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